China's Elusive Entertaining First Lady

     She is a renowned soprano, but as China's first lady she must keep a low profile in accordance with the policy since Mao Tse-tung's power-hungry wife.  Many thought the 49 year-old Peng Liyuan would be a cosmopolitan western style first embodying a more open, modern China.  However, their is a balance that must be acheived between the party's own squeamishness about making officials' private lives public, and a gossipy media culture increasingly critical of elites lifestyles and behavior.  "There's still a feeling that women can lead men astray, especially in affairs of the state", says Ross Terrill author of "Mao Tse-tung And His Wife Jiang Qing.  See also, www.nytimes.com.